My family developed a tradition of drinking wines especially on New Year’s Eve, though no one can trace when it started. It’s expected that reds and whites are sufficiently chilled and taken with finger food that lasts through the last burst of fireworks.

Sons and daughters, nephews and nieces can legally drink now, much too enthusiastically according to the senior members of the family.

The setting for our New Year’s welcome is very informal.

And that’s how it felt like at a Burgundy wine dinner at Sofitel’s Le Bar. While the long table was set up with many wineglasses, dishes of traditional Bourgogne (French name for Burgundy) food were to be served family-style. We were also told that at the end, we would experience a unique dining practice in Burgundy but that they were keeping it a secret.

Appetizers and wine

Champagne Henriot Brut Soverain was served at the cocktail area. Though not a product of Burgundy but of Reims in the Champagne region, it was served with a Burgundy gougeres au fromage, choux pastry with cheese, both much too good that we had to restrain ourselves from getting too full.

Snails in flaky pastry (escargot feuilleté), the crisp containers holding a creamy sauce flecked with black snails, were served on platters. This was paired with a chablis (William Fevre, 2011), the most noted Burgundy white produced in the Chablis region. It is mild compared to its chardonnay counterparts all over the world, lacking that oaky taste, thankfully, and has that mineral taste from bones of shells and fish that have settled at the bottom of the River Serein.

From the champagne to the chablis and finally to the Bouchard Meursalut 2009, all were different shades of chardonnay, this one less acidic, fresh-tasting probably because of the lemony aroma. It was served with poached fish in an onion stew with a creamy sauce called pôchouse. By this time, I was enamored with Burgundy. And yet there was more.

Coq au vin

The coq au vin was blackened by the rich red wine it was cooked in. I can finally say that my version of this dish is correct and not the brownish pale picture in my recipe book. The chicken was paired with Bouchard Gevrey Chambertin 2009 that was more full-bodied than other pinot noirs I’ve tasted.

The cheese expected at the end included a salad, typical of French dining. It was an epoisses, made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the village with the same name.

We were asked to place our cheese on the back of the plate, a truly Bourgogne way we were told. I suppose it means you don’t have to use another plate, saves time and less dishwashing. But they did give us a new plate to use which we promptly turned over for the salad and the apple tart that followed. A dark red and fruity Bouchard Vosne-Romanee 2007 was served with the cheese, and complemented the fruits that accompanied the epoisses.

Amid the hotel’s preparations for the Christmas season, the dinner felt like a family reunion. I haven’t been to Burgundy but it sure felt like I did that evening.

Dream guest

If I were to have a host or a guest for lunch or dinner, it should be Francesco Cordero, an Italian fifth-generation wine-maker and promoter of the family wines, Vietti. He has wide eyes and expressive hands as is typical of most Italians. And according to friends (Cheese and Wine Club and International Wine and Food Society members), he was their attentive and gracious host when they visited the vineyard in Piemonte.

It was a Roero Arneis 2013, light and crisp and great for our weather, that was served with green pea and mint frittata, the appetizer at lunch in Sala. It was an ancestor who revived Arneis, a white grape variety that was almost forgotten.

The next wines were all from the Barbera variety. For the frittata, the D’ Alba Tre Vigne 2013 was also served tasting of cherry. The D’ Alba Scarone 2010, with its richer tannins and full-bodied flavor, went well with the creamy gnocchi dish with a mushroom truffle cream. We progressed to a deeper red, D’Asti La Crena 2009, my choice, for the grilled polenta topped with duck ragout.

Our main course of grilled lamb cutlet and loin was served with a Barolo Castiglione 2009, which tasted and smelled of berries.

I thought the Vietti company’s description of the wine hilarious and could have come from the funny Francesco Cordero. It said: “This is first class juice.”

The short lunch wasn’t enough to explore the many other wines produced by Vietti, but there was time to include the story about the labels made by artists for the winery. It started with friends of the family who were inspired while drinking Vietti wines. Now it includes international artists like Qiu Guangping of China who drew his favorite subjects, horses, for the label.

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